Showing results for "Chapter One" in Literature & Fiction

***** ‘Omg! How can a person write a book like this? Is K.N. Milde a genius? Must be! It's a masterpiece!’ Tomorrow is Recruitment Day. Or, as I like to call it, Sign Your Suicide Contract Day. And like all the sane people alive—who are few, both in terms of sanity and life status—I...

Like its ambitious companion novel, Replica, this far-reaching novel by the powerhouse author of Before I Fall and the Delirium trilogy digs deep into questions of how to be a human being in a world where humanity cannot be taken for granted. In the world outside of the Haven Institute, Lyra and...

Kaori and Kairi are the first twins to survive infancy on the ancient island of Mu, where gender is as fluid as the crashing waves. One was born of fire, the other of water. But there’s a reason why none have survived before. A prophecy that has haunted the elders since time began. A rivalry destined to sink the entire island beneath a twin catastrophe of volcano and tsunami. As hatred spills from the forbidden twins like the deadly poison of sacrificed sea snakes, they must decide what matters to them most.

Alice has lived in the forest on the fringes of Alder Vale ever since her parents abandoned her. Alone, exiled, and feared by all. All except Lily. Nature has always been Lily’s tonic, and she never feels more alive than when she’s amidst the trees. It was Alice who first called them the sisters of shadow, Lily, the sunshine to her moonlight, for neither can exist without the other. But something is stirring beyond the mountains. Whispers of spectres stalking the moors, women of unfathomable power luring children into a cult that has haunted local lore for a generation.

Londinium, the last stronghold of the Romans left in Britannia, remains in a delicate state of peace with the ancient kingdoms that surround it. As the only daughter of a powerful merchant, Cassandra is betrothed to Marcus, the most eligible bachelor in the city. But then she meets Devyn, the boy with the strange midnight eyes searching for a girl with magic in her blood.

Cassandra stands silent upon a ravaged battlefield, watching as the druids prepare the dead for the pyres, embers drifting up into the still winter darkness. She can barely breathe through the agony of her grief, but she cannot waste another second on tears. Because Londinium, the Caesar, the empire…all of it is still out there. The empire whose code she had followed, whose prince she had promised to marry, whose schemes she had been swept up in since birth. They tried to use her magic against her. To silence her. So she will use her magic against them. To silence them. Forever.

After failing to escape the Roman metropolis of Londinium with Devyn, her lover, and Marcus, her betrothed, Cassandra wakes in inky darkness to find the ground giving way to sand beneath her feet. All three of them have been carted back to the notorious arena at the heart of the city to stand trial by public vote. Cass knows they must escape at any cost: to warn the Celts of the mysterious blood curse ravaging their kin, to foil the schemes of the imperial council....

Across the Scorched Sea is a visionary YA fantasy about a newborn society torn apart by secrets and sedition.